Palestinian Expatriate Surgeon Helps the Hearts of Gazans
 
GAZA, Palestine, December 2, 2003 (IPC) - -Welcomed by the Minister of Health and the administration of the Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City, a Palestinian expatriate heart surgeon currently visiting Gaza Strip held a press conference today to speak about the heart surgery in Palestine and the development achieved in that sensitive field among the Palestinian cadres.
 
Dr. Emad Tabry, an experienced heart surgeon who has been living and working in theUnited Statesfor 30 years, had arrived on Friday on his fifth visit to the Gaza Strip, and started performing delicate surgeries on Saturday at the Al Shifa hospital inGazaCity.
 
Dr. Tabry intends to perform 24 heart surgeries during his two-week visit to the hospital, as a way of training Palestinian surgeons on new operating methods and the latest techniques and equipment discovered in this field.
 
Dr. Jawad Al Tibi, the Minister of Health, welcomed Dr. Tabry and thanked him for being able to come to the Palestinian territories and offer his experience and new technologies in heart surgery to the Palestinian surgeons. Dr. Al Tibi added that this visit achieves the main objective of the Ministry in enhancing the capabilities and experience of local Palestinian medical cadres, so patients can be treated in Palestinian hospitals rather than depending on transfers to other hospitals abroad.
 
Supplementing Dr. Al Tibi, Dr. Ibrahim Al Habbash, director general of Al Shifa hospital, said that foreign heart surgeons used to bring in their entire staff of nurses and technicians when they perform heart surgeries in Gaza, but on this visit, Dr. Tabry discovered that the Palestinian cadre is well trained and has acquired the necessary experience to aid the surgeon instead of his own crew.
 
In an interview with IPC, Dr. Tabry said that on every visit to the Gaza Strip, he found major improvements among the Palestinian medical teams, and that on this visit, the Palestinian surgeons even performed some surgeries on their own.
 
Dr. Tabry also thanked the Palestinian Child Relief Fund (PCRF) and his president, Mr.Steve Sosebee, who informed him of the situation in the Palestinian territories and the dire need for medical expertise and training of local cadres.
 
Along with Dr. Tabry, a perfusionist (nurse responsible for operating the artificial heart pump) also arrived from theUnited Stateswith him just for training purposes of the Palestinian perfusionists.
 
Asked about the Israeli obstacles placed in front of his visit, Dr. Tabry pointed out that the main obstacles were the delays at Israeli airports and checkpoints, such as the "Erez" checkpoint, as well as thorough and unnecessary search he went through, as he brought large amounts of medical supplies with him during his current visit.
 
Dr. Tabry, who is on the advisory board of the PCRF, said that many Palestinian expatriate doctors as well as foreigners are becoming more and more involved in helping the Palestinian people, and have formed the International Palestinian Children Relief Organization (IPCRO), to help the Palestinians. He also added that some companies in theUnited Statesthat manufacture medical equipment have donated expensive equipment and other objects of the latest medical technology.
 
In order to keep the Palestinian doctors and surgeons up to date with the latest technologies, Dr. Tabry brought with him natural heart valves, which represent the latest development in heart surgery in the world, to replace the regular, plastic valves, as well as "bio glue" (medical glue made of human blood tissue and used in closing the gaps between stitches in cardiac tissue to prevent excessive bleeding). For training, he also brought an atrial flutter machine, which is used to eliminate the atrial flutter disease in the heart, as well as the latest techniques in off-pump surgeries.
 
On his part, Dr. Kamel Abu Qasem, head of the heart surgery department at Al Shifa hospital, said that the aim of the hospital (when receiving Palestinian expatriate doctors and foreign medical delegations) was to prepare a Palestinian cadre of physicians in general and heart surgeons in particular, in order to be capable of dealing with every case without depending on abroad transfers, which cost the Ministry large amounts of money that could be spent in developing other health sectors.